National Assembly mulls passage of 2020 budget Nov. 28

President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, said on Tuesday that the National Assembly was working towards the passage of the 2020 Appropriation bill on Nov. 28.

To achieve the target date, Lawan, during plenary mandated the Senate Committee on Appropriations, to submit its report on the 2020 Budget proposal on Nov. 26.

He said that the committee’s compliance with the presentation of its report on Nov. 26, would facilitate the passage of the 2020 Budget on Nov. 28, before the National Assembly would proceed on Christmas break.

He said: “On the Budget 2020 we are working on, the ball is now in the court of Senate Committee on Appropriations, the last committee standing.

“All the committees have done their work so well within the defined parameters and we, therefore, expect the Appropriations Committee to produce the report and lay it here by Nov. 26, the next two weeks.

“I believe that the same thing will be done in our sister chamber, the House of Representatives, so that we are able to pass the Appropriation Bill 2020 on the Nov. 28, by the Grace of God.”

Meanwhile, a total of 12 bills scaled first reading on the floor on Tuesday.

The bills are: National Religious Equity Commission (Est.) Bill, 2019, sponsored by Sen. Stella Oduah; Constituency Development Fund (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Ali Ndume and the National Agency for Technology Incubation (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Ajayi Boroffice.

Others are National War College Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Aliyu Wamakko; Compulsory Free Universal Education Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Rose Oko, and Private Security and Forensic Investigation Bureau of Nigeria (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Barinanda Mpigi.

Others include, Police Act (Amendment) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Betty Apiafi; Federal University of Agriculture and Technology Funtua (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Bello Mandiya and Federal College of Education (Technical) Kaima, Kwara State (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Sadiq Umar.

Also, Federal University of Gashua (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi; Federal Medical Centre Dekina, by Sen. Jibrin Isah, and National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (Est.) Bill, 2019, by Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi.